District of Port Hardy lays out rules for cannabis retailers

Firm rules for potential cannabis retailers in the District of Port Hardy will soon be set in stone.

A staff report on cannabis retailers was discussed at a District of Port Hardy committee of the whole meeting on March 22.

Director of Corporate Services, Heather Nelson-Smith, wrote in her report that “the district has an opportunity to regulate cannabis retailers in the District of Port Hardy. As it stands now, once legal, cannabis dispensaries are covered under our commercial retailer definition.”

The Recommendations from the Cannabis Advisory Committee as it relates to zoning

are as follows:

Buffers/Proximity:

That no dispensary shall be located within 100 metres of a playground or library;

That no dispensary shall be located within 150 metres of a school or licensed day care facility;

That no dispensary shall be located within 200 metres of another dispensary;

Quantity of Dispensaries:

Only 2 Dispensaries shall be permitted in the District of Port Hardy;

Mixed-Use Zoning:

Dispensaries shall not be combined with any other use within the same

premises. And that, the District be supportive of onsite testing and or VapeLounge

facilities within the Dispensary, providing that the Province will be permitting onsite usage.

Zoning options:

1. Create a definition for Cannabis Retailer in the Zoning Regulation and do nothing further- this would mean that for retailers to start up they would have to apply for a zoning amendment to add Cannabis Retailer to their property.

2. Create a definition for Cannabis Retailer and set provisions in the zoning regulation that permit how many, how far from properties etc…and then assign Cannabis Retailer to specific zones.

3. Create a definition for Cannabis Retailer and set provisions in the zoning regulation that permit how many, how far from properties etc…and then state that Cannabis Retailers are permitted in any zone where Liquor Premises is a principle use.

Limits:

The recommendation is to limit retailers to two.

Mixed use zoning:

The Province has established that at the onset that cannabis retailers may not be combined with any other use, however it does state that there may be some exemptions for rural communities.

It is a recommendation of the committee that the District prohibit combined use for cannabis retailers.

According to Nelson-Smith, the committee of the whole reviewed and addressed the recommendations from the Cannabis Advisory Committee and recommended that staff proceed with a zoning amendment to be brought back to the Committee for review with the following regulations as it relates to cannabis retailers:

That cannabis retailers shall be at least 100 metres from a playground or library.

That cannabis retailers shall be at least 150 metres from a school or licensed day care facility.

That there shall be no buffers between cannabis retailers, meaning they can be located next to or across from each other.

That there will be no limit to how many cannabis retailers there are in Port Hardy.

That cannabis retailers shall be stand alone and not mixed with any other use.

That those wanting to operate a cannabis retail store will have to apply for rezoning to apply the cannabis retailers use to site specific properties.

Staff will be preparing a draft amendment and report back to the committee, who will then be making the final decisions on cannabis retailers.